Do you ever feel like you met someone via divine providence or intervention? That you felt as though your meeting was guided by something far more than mere circumstance? That’s how I felt when I stepped into the unknown waters of indie fantasy back in 2019 and found myself in a swell of independent authors all clamoring for attention on the facebook ad space back when that was still viable.
That’s how I found Jim Wilbourne.
An ad with a piece of art and the promise of a book to come. Where I had scrolled past innumerable similar ads, something gnawed at me to stay, and for reasons I’ve yet to fully divine, I told myself I would follow Jim and await his promised book, The Seventh Cadence.
I was not disappointed in the slightest. The Seventh Cadence is one of my first indie fantasy books and one of my favorites. A stalwart example of what an indie fantasy book can and should be from cover to cover. And what a cover it is.
(Look up artists for cover)
What drew me into indie fantasy was something that traditional publishers had put aside: evocative eye-catching covers that spur cover buys. The Seventh Cadence proves to be one of the all-time best indie fantasy covers I’ve ever seen, worth every penny of whatever it cost. It’s what a fantasy cover SHOULD be.
The level of quality in this book extends well into the pages of the narrative. The level of editing and narrative polish is exemplary, the worldbuilding is unique and interesting, and its clean fantasy in the vein of Robert Jordan or Brandon Sanderson, so if you’re a fan of either you will highly enjoy this style of high fantasy epic.
What of the book itself? Well, depending on how much you want from the stormy you have options for much more than just the base book. If you go to his author website at JimWilbourne.com and sign up for his newsletter, you’ll get an extended prologue that helps show what one of the main characters, Tele, was up to right before the Prologue starts.
The world of Continua has multiple POV characters across almost 700 pages and while the book is absolutely a slow burn, it’s a slow burn that builds itself across its cast of characters at different points of the story and starts snowballing them towards a finale that sees a collision of plotlines and characters done in such a way that I couldn’t put the book down near the end.
If I had to sum up Jim Wilbourne’s writing style in one word, it would be Meticulous. Jim writes in a meticulous manner than, having read so many novels and written my own, I could see the narrative dominos being set up but the resulting elements toppling over into one another was still every bit as satisfying. The characters are likable and interesting enough that I could read a novel about them individually. The only thing that detracts from this is that having such a large cast in such a large novel means you get pulled away from the characters for a while and might have to jog your memory when you come back to them. In truth, I was so much more invested in one character’s story that I was chomping at the bit to get back to it while trying to focus on the next POV character.
So who are these characters? You’ve got Tele, the female character you’ll see in the artwork associated with the book. She’s a Keeper, a secret society that carries knowledge carried down the generations of the teachings of a legendary figure in their history: a great wizard named Titan, who vanished and people are anxiously awaiting his return to this day. His secrets? Science! Tele herself is a crafty individual, often getting out of situations with cunning and guile instead of combat ability. One of her such moments is a highlight of the book and a LITERAL WAR CRIME! (It’s not a war crime if you’re the first to do it. Sorry, I don’t make the rules).
At the onset of the start of the prologue, she’s being chased and is rescued by another main POV character: Navid. Navid is a Seer, who has a gift of prophetic foresight that he is forced to suppress. Seers are part of a sect of Prophets, who are charged with controlling their foresight, which they see as a curse of sorts, but also act like overseers of the events happening throughout the world of Continua. They’re a bit like the Bene Gesserit in that they have their fingers in many pies. Later, their story runs afoul of Navid’s (adopted) sisters Mara and Amie, who maintain their own presence throughout the story as semi-POVs.
Finally, there is prince Gabriel, the son of the king of Caldor, who believes he is not worthy of being the king just yet and sets out to join the military under a false name so he can be trained outside his circle of royal protection and become the warrior-king he believes he should be in order to lead his people. Their kingdom is under attack from the Dominon, which used to rule the world with their religious zealous order called The Creed and they’re fighting to reassert their dominance over the rest of the world. The Dominion are the ones hunting Tele and the Keepers to extinction (she’s the last one, btw) and their general, Gareth, is the antagonist of the book.
The book has a lot of high spots and bouts of adventure and drama, with the slow burn sometimes making the space between those high spots seem a touch more drawn out than need be. I’m a believer in knowing what to expect can help you adjust your expectations going into a novel and I have always preferred to judge a book by its entirety. A slow burn has been a point of contention with me in the most recent past as evidenced with my article “Get to the Point, Indie Author”. But don’t take that as gospel that a slow burn is the death knell of a reader’s interest. In the case of the Seventh Cadence, it’s a slow burn that works.
For those who finish the book and want a little more, because the book does end on a few story threads left hanging, there is a book 1.5, of sorts. The novella Strangers in the Promised Land, continues the story following Mara and Amie at the end of Seventh Cadence and works as a microcosm of Jim’s meticulous writing style. Its meant to gap books 1 and 2.
Keen eyes will note that The Seventh Cadence was published in late 2021, five years ago and there has not been a second book. Indie authors do tend to put out books a bit more often, but in this case there’s more than just books to Jim Wilbourne’s presence in the creative spaces. Jim works in the film industry and that work has kept him quiet busy in life, but also has kept him away form the keyboard.
Jim Vlogs about once a week from his youtube channel, but one look at the (again) meticulous and professional level of quality of the storytelling in these episodes show that his creative qualities are not limited to just the written word. In the past, his youtube videos were a fascinating look at the relationship between fantasy and mythology. Lately, his vlogs play like a short documentary style episode of him navigating his professional and creative lives. Well worth a subscription and some time set aside to watch. He has promised that Book 2 is in the works. Unlike GRRM, I am willing to wait for Jim’s next book patiently.
Subscribe to Jim Wilbourne on Youtube
The Seventh Cadence was a book that I enjoyed so much that I made it my first Best Indie Fantasy of the Year on my old youtube channel. You can watch that here
(Review here)
And if you want a little insight into Jim, you can catch my interview with him as well. (If you don’t mind my mic audio, I had audio issues).
You can grab a copy of The Seventh Cadence Here.
John A. Douglas is an independently published author and the author of the Age of Adventures fantasy series including its two starter books: The Black Crown and The Lionheart: Icon of Justice
